In 2020, Adriana Ancilleri said she had “just an idea” to build a fitness circuit for kids to encourage them to be heart healthy and have fun for her Girl Scouts Gold Award project.
That was just the beginning of an unstoppable girl’s mission to help others.
3 years later, with belief, support of the community, family, and fellow volunteers Adriana finally brought her vision full circle as she painted the last pieces to the “Healthy Hearts For Happy Kids Trail” at the Holtsville Wildlife & Ecology Center Fitness Track located in Holtsville, NY.
With the fall weather still beaming warm summer-like afternoons, children and their families can still be seen making their way going from station to station running, jumping, and hopping through the trail.
“When I first came up with the idea it was very small. I didn’t expect the town (Town of Brookhaven) to create blacktop heads for us. The whole community came together donating supplies,” said Adriana.
Still feeling a little shocked by the overwhelming response, Adriana who graduated from Sachem East High School in February 2023 completed the fitness track project in early June 2023 before she headed off to her freshman year of college at NYIT this fall.
The track consists of eight stations with two signs at each stop incorporating different activities like stretching, hopscotch and running in place combined with positive and inspirational themes such as, “Be Kind,” “Let Your Imagination Fly,” and “Superheroes.”
Every sign includes a “fun fact” to bring the lesson together in a memorable statement with the final sign at the end of the trail closing out the activity course with a quote from Rocky Balboa reading, “Every champion was once a contender that refused to give up.”
As a result of Adriana’s contribution to her community, she has received multiple scholarships for college including the Girl Scouts Presidential Service Award and recognition from her school district. The greatest reward though for Adriana, she said, has come from the people who have shared with her everything they love about the trail.
“People would come up while I was painting and share how they love taking their children to the trail, the artwork-how fun it is for kids,” she said.
With the completion of the trail, Adriana and her mom Sharon Ancilleri shifted gears and began a search to find a local program in need to donate the leftover painting supplies. Sharon, who worked right by Adriana’s side from start to finish to bring this project to life said it was important to them to pay forward in their community with the generosity that was shown to them.
“It would be nice to bring a colorful moment to another child’s area,” said Sharon.
Within days of Adriana making the final touches, their hopes came to fruition and the painting stencils and supplies were donated to a middle school art department within Sachem Central School District and a batch of “Healthy Hearts For Happy Kids” t-shirts were likewise gifted to the Lighthouse Mission.
After years of hard work and determination to see the project through, Adriana sat on a bench and looked at the completed trail. Reflecting on it all she said she hopes the creation of her “Healthy Hearts For Happy Kids” trail provides a place for families and their children to come play and stay fit for years to come.
“It was definitely a feel-good moment to say it was complete,” she said.
The Holtsville Wildlife & Ecology Center Fitness Track is located at 249 Buckley Rd Holtsville, NY 11742.
Local elementary school teacher, Christine Brennen-Chanowsky has been teaching for 30 years, but like many others throughout the pandemic she started looking for something to do at home to help ease anxieties and decided to teach herself how to make candles.
With an apparent blink of an eye, Christine’s life took a turn like she never expected since and this past May she opened Long Island’s first-of-its-kind candle bar, Fire & Wixx on Main Street in the Village of Patchogue. By her side was members of the Chamber of Commerce and approximately 25 teacher friends who came out to support.
“It went flawless,” she said of the grand opening. Within only a few weeks, word has appeared to be spreading quickly between social media and local reviews.
But how did she get into the candle making business?
Christine started teaching herself to make candles from home and while working on developing her craft she also started meditation with daily affirmations to help her own path of healing while facing health issues. In a completely natural blending, Christine began to put her daily affirmations on labels of her candles to help her remember them and began journaling her visualization techniques.
After seeing her creations, friends and family started asking her to make candles for them and for their own specific holistic needs such as self-care, anxiety, stress relief and new beginnings. And so then, Christine started making candles for them in her kitchen.
“Honestly, I started making them after people in my life. It just started blowing up,” she said of the natural word-of-mouth spread of her new business.
As her candle making began to evolve into something she never imagined, so did the opportunities that came to her mind. One day, when attending a psychic fair, she said, she stopped and looked around at all the vendors, thinking, she could do the same thing.
Previously known as Divine Dreams, Christine sold her candles at fairs across the island and before she knew it, she branched out again when she began selling her candles at a local crystal shop. Selling her candles at crystal shops was a great pairing, topped with healing crystals and dried flowers.
“Right now, my candles are in 11 stores; four are in Virginia and then the rest are on Long Island,” she said.
It wasn’t long before she took the jump and opened her own space, Fire & Wixx in Patchogue. The idea to open the first candle bar on Long Island Christine said came to her through Facebook. As a member of many candle-making pages she kept seeing “candle bar” pop-ups all over the country, but nothing in New York.
“Candle-making is such a therapeutic experience and when I started doing it my whole world started changing,” she said, happy to offer that experience on Long Island.
The search for the perfect space didn’t take long for Christine as she only looked at one space before the current space at 8 Main Street. The new space’s décor is a work of art on its own being completely furnished with many thrift store finds, an enchanting photo-backdrop with Fire & Wixx in hot pink lights and a lot of creativity working with what she had.
About the candle-making session
The almost hour session includes an instruction portion from the teacher herself to guide candle makers on how to use the scale for scent balance, mix up, pour in and change color with dye. According to Christine, one of the most important lessons to learn in candle making is being sure to have the scents at a certain balance.
“The more fragrance oil doesn’t mean your candle is going to smell more,” she noted.
All candles are made with all-natural soy wax Christine gets locally from family owned Paramold Manufacturing Ltd, a company in Sayville that has been in business for over 160 years who makes their wax right on premises.
After the candles are filled it takes about a half-hour to set, so for those who would like to go out and about in the Village and maybe grab a bite to eat at one of the many surrounding restaurants Christine created a shelving area right outside of the entrance to put candles on for customers to come back later at their leisure to grab and go.
But Christine said a lot of people are just staying.
“They are staying, hanging out, taking pictures,” she said.
A standard session is $50 for the lesson, vessel, everything to make the candle including soy wax, fragrances and a choice of three different healing crystals along with dried flowers to top it off.
At Fire & Wixx Christine said they are all about themes and special sessions. On the upcoming calendar are events such as Mediums & Affirmation Candles, Vision Boards & Vision Candles, Rainy Day Flash Sales, tarot card readings and sampling events with local vineyards and breweries paired with making candles.
At the end of the day, Christine said, she wishes Fire & Wixx to be a place of healing and for people to make it whatever their heart needs.
“A place of inspiration to take yourself away from your life, the busy, the stress for a minute,” she said. “Sometimes healing is just being with your friends. I think this is why I did this and that. There’s a balance of both.”
To book a party, a session, and to find out all the up-to-date events and hours visit: www.fireandwixx.com.
From Chiropractor to musician to emerging voiceover actor one man rewrites his story
By Amy Nicole Tangel
During the height of the pandemic even certain healthcare professionals were faced with being unable to safely work and uncertainty when they began looking outside the box like chiropractor turned voiceover actor, Jeff Williams.
“I am a real evidence-based type of chiropractor,” said Jeff who owns a healthcare clinic in his hometown of Amarillo, Texas.
Then Covid hit and he said nobody wanted to be anywhere, especially healthcare clinics unless it was a hospital.
“I am a doer,” he said, “I have a really hard time sitting around being idle.”
Prior to becoming a chiropractor and in his early years of practice, Jeff made a life as a singer, musician and songwriter who traveled throughout his home state of Texas and toured across the southwestern states.
Like many other people who were suddenly sitting home with everything on hold, Jeff said he started thinking of what he could do to keep working and be creative without being around people. One day when Jeff was exploring different ideas, he said he came across a friend’s narration work on a video game and it grabbed his interest right off the bat.
“I was off and running and it has been incredible,” he said. “I wish I had known about it 20 years ago.”
After years being a singer and, in a band, ironically Jeff said nobody who heard his voice had ever suggested him do anything like this prior, so he never really thought anything of it being remarkable or notable until the pandemic came along.
“It’s just been my voice my whole life,” he said.
Only a few years later, Jeff holds credits such as The World Series of Poker, WWF, Honda, Bank of America, Audible, Werner’s Ladders, just to name a few, for a man who did approximately 1,300 voiceover spots in one year. Adding to his rapidly growing collection of work, Jeff has now most recently become quite busy in the video game world.
In the newly released video game, God of Rock-Jeff plays the voice of “King,” an Elvis-inspired character and keeping the video game momentum going he is currently working on an up-coming video football game, Maximum Football as voice to a stadium announcer slated to be released in the fall.
“It’s funny, I guess because I am from Amarillo, I always have the perception of myself that I’ve got the voice for beers, burgers and trucks, but I really do like the more meaningful work,” he said.
For Jeff, the nature of the voiceover industry is currently very competitive in his eyes because of an influx of creative people such as himself migrating to the industry during Covid, but with a blend of abilities as a musician, healthcare professional, and businessman he said he feels it has been an asset to help him stand out.
While Jeff’s voiceover work has become primary next to his chiropractor work, he said he loves being a chiropractor, enjoys teaching people and helping others. With two fellowship trainings and years in practice Jeff said at the age of 50 though, seeing 30 to 50 patients a day has become physically taxing, so voiceovers have become a “win-win” for his creativity and his retirement plan.
“One thing always seems to come from another,” he said.
In Jeff’s life he said everything has always seemed to come from one another even in his music career. From being a local musician in Amarillo to traveling across state lines, Jeff’s entrepreneurial skills over the years also led him to starting his own radio promotion company and holds credit to being Turnpike Troubadours first radio promoter.
Taking something from every aspect of Jeff’s life professionally and creatively, more than anything he said making the connection with other voiceover actors has been the most fulfilling. Compared to other artistic industries he has worked in over the years, Jeff said fellow voiceover actors have been a breath of fresh air with everyone being so kind and supportive.
“Voiceover actors are just like that. Everybody has such a good time together,” he said.
As he continues to build and grow his newfound career, Jeff is moving right along upwards in the voiceover industry and has recently reached new milestones having signed under the reputable management of Celia Segal. Just weeks ago, Jeff also announced he additionally signed with the Lori Lins Talent Agency. Through it all, Jeff remains humble in his sentiment and said at the end of the day it is just, “send it and forget it.”
Seemingly there is no limits to Jeff’s drive as an artist, and he is currently working towards the next venture paying forward with Square1VO; a new platform created alongside industry leader Andy Field, to teach and guide new voiceover actors to get their start.
Looking back on the whirlwind of the past few years, what Jeff said he has enjoyed the most aside from the connections with other fellow actors has been his introduction into the video game world of voiceovers and just enjoying the actual work of the commercials.
“I just love working on video games. It is a blast. I would love to do some animation too,” he said.
To learn more about Jeff Williams and Square1VO visit:
Where Vegas meets Broadway comes the musical comedy show: Billy Mira and The Hitmen
By Amy Nicole Tangel
For one night only Long Island entertainer Billy Mira is bringing his original show, Billy Mira & The Hitmen to The Argyle Theatre for an evening of music, comedy and special guests with an all-new twist.
On Friday, April 14 Billy and company will hit the stage at The Argyle for the first time-ever and the singer, comedian, impressionist and all-around showman said he is thrilled to be joined by fellow comedians and satellite radio personalities, Sal Governale and Richard Christy.
The show is returning to the stage for the first time since the pandemic, and Billy said the audience can expect “two-shows-in-one” when he opens-up the night in the first set and leads you to what he and fellow-writer Sal describe as a “Dean and Jerry” style second act.
“We were basically able to create an old-style show with a new version of it,” Billy said.
Since the show’s creation in 2014, Billy said his fans on Long Island and all over the country have been phenomenal. With recent success and sold-out shows from Billy and Sal that also included Richard at Governor’s Comedy Club, Billy said he started thinking it only made sense to add their act to the show.
With a friendship and working relationship in comedy spanning over 20 years, the duo’s new act incorporates comedic timing and a good working chemistry the two said naturally lent itself to the show. While Sal is widely known for his stand-up comedy, prank calls, shock humor, and even a cooking show, “Big Meals, Small Places” on YouTube, he said he has never done anything like this before, but he has always loved to sing and is loving every minute.
“When I saw Billy doing what he loved he inspired me to get back out there, because I didn’t want to continue with just stand-up comedy. I wanted to do something different,” said Sal.
The mixed platform of music, comedy and impressions always lead to the songs and just like any Broadway show Billy said he created the story around the music, but for him it’s the music he loved growing up and whatever songs have touched him in a way where he felt connected. Paying homage to everything from Billy Joel to Queen to KISS, it’s all about connecting with his audience.
“It’s honest, but people seem to love the whole thing, because people connect the same,” he said.
Bringing it all together for a night of swing and rock-n-roll music is a 9-piece-band and the goal, Billy and Sal said, is for the audience to have an experience like no other show.
Prior to Covid, Billy said he was about to break out nationally with the show when everything shut down. The silver lining, he said, came from being fortunate to have places like the Polo Lounge at Westbury Manor, where he still holds residency every Thursday night, and Krisch’s Restaurant.
“Thank God I had the Polo Lounge and Krisch’s, because people saw me and people would ask me to do other things and it kept me busy singing,” Billy said of being a performer during the COVID shutdown.
Having had great success in past shows and fans from all over the country, Billy said the plan for the future of Billy Mira and The Hitmen is to take the show on the road. While there are no concrete dates set yet, he said solid plans are in the works for big stops such as Vegas and Atlantic City; making the stop at the Argyle the beginning of more to come. For Billy, it’s always the ultimate dream to get back to Vegas, but he envisions the Argyle theatre as a great marriage in being a possible production house to build the show for future performances.
“I really look forward to performing and joining up with the people over at the Argyle Theatre. It’s a great production house and an amazing theatre,” he said.
Adding to the one-of-a-kind experience for audiences, there will also be a Meet and Greet for those who purchase the package for after the show. Once the show is over, Meet and Greet ticketholders will be invited to come on stage for pictures, signings and conversation with the cast.
Believing in the power of audience participation for this show, Billy and Sal both said they really want the audience to be involved and being able to meet and talk with them after the show makes them feel like they know the people that come out to see them.
“It’s just the synchronicity of the audience loving you and us loving them, and us doing something together,” Sal said.
When having met years ago, neither Billy nor Sal said they ever imagined they would end up together in this fashion on stage, but they both simultaneously have had the drive to continue to do what they love. Meeting at a comedy club bar many moons ago, Sal said he heard Billy doing impressions of Ozzy Osbourne and of a great David Lee Roth that blew him away. Since then, Billy said the two have often talked about the chance encounter and where they are together today. So much so, that Billy said it has become a part of the show.
“We met one in a billion chance, and we actually made a bit around it,” said Billy.
Limited individual tickets and VIP Meet and Greet packages are still available at, argyletheatre.com/billymiraandthehitmen. To stay up to date with all upcoming events, you can find Billy Mira and The Hitmen, Billy Mira and Sal Governale on social media platforms.
Billy MiraSal Governale & Billy MiraA modern day “Dean meets Jerry”Sal, Richard & Billy at Governor’sRichard Christy & Sal Governale
Spring has sprung and so has the free family fun at the farm
By Amy Nicole Tangel
When Kaylyn Reynolds began her career, she was following her passion in nursing, but after a layoff in the dermatology industry in 2008 she decided to search for what she really wanted to do in life. In a grand twist-of-fate she was led to a sheep farm in Ireland.
The rest was history. The first time she ever worked on a farm, she said, was when she knew she wanted to do this for the rest of her life. It just so happened, her first time, was during lambing season, where she was thrown in to help birth hundreds and hundreds of baby lambs. But that was the way farm life was in Ireland, she said explaining that she had to figure it all out on her own.
Through World Wide Opportunities on Organic Farms (WWOOF), Kaylyn worked on various farms beginning in Ireland and eventually traveling to England, Greece and Croatia. Bringing everything she learned about farming in Europe back to her roots on Long Island, Kaylyn found a new home in 2013 at the Suffolk County Farm and Education Center, a Cornell Cooperative Extension in Yaphank.
Ten years later, she continues her mission as Operations Coordinator working to bring more visitors to the free farm to educate the community about animals, crops, and how we are all connected in the circle of life.
“It sounds so simple, but there’s so many other farms that are so commercialized and we are free,” Kaylyn said.
The Lindenhurst native said it still astonishes her after 10 years working at the farm how there are still so many people in Suffolk County that do not even know about the farm, let alone what it has to offer. Knowing this, she has been diligently working to build onsite and off-site programing. Still to this day, Kaylyn said approximately 90 percent of the staff who come in and interview did not previously know the farm existed.
The Suffolk County Farm has 200 acres of farmland filled with barn animals and crops. The center is a vibrant and thriving sustainable environment open to the public every day from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. free of charge. Visitors can tour the facility exploring the sheep, goats, pigs, llamas, chickens, cows, ducks, rabbits, horses, ponies and so much more. Most of the animals onsite are educational animals Kaylyn said, and their main purpose is for field-trips and outings.
“Our mission is education and providing our community with a place,” she said.
At any given time, Kaylyn said the farm is home to anywhere between 100-150 animals. Currently, in the spring season the farm hands are birthing goats and sheep so the number does fluctuate. Goats, sheep, chickens and piglets are the only animals they breed for education.
Part of the education is a chicken embryology program to provide eggs to schools so children can learn and hatch the chicken in their classroom. Chickens called “Layers” come to the farm every year to lay eggs which are sent directly to the schools. This program is overseen by the farm’s Animal Science Educator Katharine Perz, and every year as an organization they run a “Raising Backyard Chickens” program to get information out to the community and provide resources to people before they go out and buy chickens for their own backyard.
With the current egg shortage as a result of the influenza outbreak amongst chickens, Kaylyn said they are working to do their part on the farm to educate the public and be as safe as possible with practices such as washing eggs at a certain temperature and not allowing children on school visits or at the farm to pet the chickens anymore.
“We are trying to be super cautious about our flock and telling people to keep their flocks to themselves,” she said.
The crops division is overseen by Environmental Science Coordinator Sarah Titmus and in addition to growing crops, Kaylyn said the program includes an IGHL house on property where the residents participate in activities such as maintaining a greenhouse, planting onsite and grow poinsettias to give to Suffolk County Offices for the holiday season.
The farm also offers a Master Gardener Program through Cornell Cooperative Extension which maintains a children’s garden and herb garden onsite. A variety of crops grow in the field on site including, pumpkins for the fall, hay for the animals and corn for the cattle.
“Anything we grow here is for something to be used onsite,” Kaylyn said.
While anyone can come walk around the farm for free, for a fee the education center offers programs for kids such as a nature-based preschool and a farm summer camp. Other nature-fun features include, a nature classroom, play areas, play animals, and Kaylyn said it’s quite simple to get the children involved: “You just have to sign up!”
Medford resident and mom, Eileen Higgins has been bringing her son and daughter to the farm for years. Eileen said not only does Suffolk County Farm have a lot of programs for a variety of ages, but appreciates the importance of how farms teach us so much.
“I have attended a field trip with my son’s class, and it was so much fun. My daughter attends their summer camp, and she gets to learn a lot about animals and farm life while making friends and having fun. Without farms we would not be able to sustain life,” she said of her family’s love for the local farm.
One of the obstacles in getting the word out about the farm and having it stick is all the different names people associate with it, which becomes confusing, Kaylyn said. In addition to the seeming confusion with the name is the misconception of some local people that the Suffolk County Farm is where inmates work.
While the farm is a county facility with a long history of collaborating with many county organizations including the Sheriff’s Office, there has not been any inmates working on the farm since 2020 due to Covid, but the bad wrap is unwarranted because the public is not educated on what they do on site.
Previous to the pandemic, Kaylyn said, inmates would come to the site and participate in several programs such as woodworking, landscaping and butcher programs to name a few that would let them leave their incarceration with a certificate. The inmates from the Yaphank facility who did participate in programs were there for short periods of time and “nonviolent criminals,” Kaylyn assured. Within the decade Kaylyn has been at the farm, and in over 30 years for other coworkers, she said there was not a single incident.
“It is a great collaboration that has helped the farm’s very short staff and limited budget throughout the years while it also helped the inmates get some skills to procure new jobs once they are done serving their time,” she said.
As for the farm’s most popular annual event, “Baby Animal Day” is coming up on Saturday, May 13. According to Kaylyn, people love it because it’s the one day at the farm you are allowed to go in the pen with the animals. They are also host to a widely attended pumpkin festival every fall. They also try to do four major events a year as well as monthly events with growing community involvement.
Patchogue resident and local business owner of Tashana’s Kitchen, Tashana Small has attended multiple events at the farm with her gourmet Mac-n-Cheese cupcakes and she will be returning this May for “Baby Animal Day.” Tashana attends local events regularly throughout the year with her food, and she said every time she has worked an event at the farm the turnout has been very good for business.
“I have had a great experience with Kaylyn, her staff and the Suffolk County Farm. I would do an event there anytime they ask me,” Tashana said.
The summer Food Truck & Wine Festival has also grown in popularity. Two years ago, the county granted the organization four alcohol events a year working with local breweries, wineries and distilleries.
Mark Pragai of Montreal, Quebec moves closer to dream of making movies across the border
By Amy Nicole Tangel
During the height of the pandemic, when the border between Canada and the U.S. closed, there was a moment when filmmaker Mark Pragai said he felt his dream of coming to the United States to work and make films was taken away.
Mark, like countless others, had his entire career placed on pause-going from a day-to-day life filled with people, connection, creativity and building on his emerging film career to sudden isolation.
“My whole life kind of shutdown at that moment,” said Mark.
In the beginning of March 2020, just prior to the shutdown, Mark moved to Toronto going forward with his network and film career. His initial thoughts he said was, “it was going to be a great steppingstone towards meeting all the requirements” he needed to obtain a Visa to work in the U.S., but low and behold on his birthday, March 11 the border closed.
Feeling like his career ended and everything he worked for was one after another “drying up,” Mark said he decided to move back to Montreal where he stayed with his dad. He just dealt with the situation the best he could, but, at times, the seeming loss of so much was almost too much for him to bare.
“I remember a day where I almost packed up all my things in my car and road-tripped across the border,” he somberly reflected.
Prior to Covid, Mark said he frequently began traveling to the states in 2019; primarily L.A. to simply visit with friends and network. Soon enough he naturally became interested in pursuing how he could bring both worlds together.
Born and raised in Montreal, the filmmaker who has made award winning commercials for major companies such as Nutella and most-well-known for his work with the major Canadian fashion retailer, Simons said his first inspiration to capture images came from his mother who was a photographer. Adding to his passion to create, Mark said he was also instilled early on by his father, a craftsman, and his late engineer grandfather who built a family auto body business where he learned to build a car from top to bottom.
Although Mark sadly lost his mother to cancer at the young age of 14, he said the memories he has of his mother and her work is something that played large part in the career path he has taken. While he studied basic photography and learned how to work in the dark room in high school, he said it wasn’t until university when he started working with digital.
“All through that I was taking photography courses sort of as a way to connect with my mom,” he said.
In a truly organic method of being a self-taught filmmaker, another skill which has inadvertently benefitted his cinematography comes from his lifelong practice of figure skating. Mark said ironically, his years of skating has not only enhanced his filmmaking by naturally allowing him a fluid motion of movement with a camera, but it has also helped him to stand out among the rest.
Mark’s college years consisted of a focus on fashion and graphic design that eventually led him to production design. Being raised by a photographer mother, a metal working father and a grandfather who built with wood Mark said he takes from it all when building sets and making films. Whether it’s a music video, commercial or movie; fashion and dance is where Mark said most of his body of work lies.
“The visual aspect, which is really important to me as a cinematographer is everything,” he said.
When he decided to make filmmaking his life, Mark took a giant leap-of-faith leaving behind a full-time job and committed to opening his own doors no matter what. He partnered with two fellow friends and independent filmmakers and said they simply started shooting anything they could come up with.
Collectively and independently, Mark began working with other peers, Jose Antonio Fernandez and Vins Price to create reels to build his portfolio and eventually began entering contests; leading him to create one of his biggest published projects for Nutella. The commercial ran in Europe and for Mark, he felt it was the “moody” vibe captured through his filmmaking concept of “emotional storytelling” that stood out from the rest.
“It was a breakfast commercial we made moody. People don’t make moody breakfast commercials,” he said.
For the past 6 years, Mark has been active as the head to Raindance Montreal, a networking and film training division of Britain’s Raindance Film Festival created to support Canadian filmmakers. The extension of the largest independent film festival, Mark said was previously led by friend and actor Adam Bernett, but when it was time for him to move forward with his own career, he passed the torch to Mark.
Raindance Montreal has been a venture that Mark said he felt went under the radar for years in the international film industry, but thanks to his passion for networking the events held by the organization have soared to new heights.
“We (Raindance Montreal) became the biggest English-speaking film networking event in Quebec for filmmaking,” he said.
Canadian filmmaking Mark feels does not have the best view and the way the films get funded he said, “is a detriment to the films that get made there with everything being government funded,” citing there is no incentive to try and sell the movies. This mindset has fueled Mark’s passion to not only expand his own work to the U.S., but to help open doors for other Canadian filmmakers.
“For Montreal and our vibe, we are independent filmmakers trying to make professional looking projects,” he said.
Mark’s passion for people and joy for life seemingly comes through in every photo he takes and he is ready to bring everything he has to offer to the U.S. to create films here. Once he is approved, Mark said he plans to take residence on Long Island to be close to the city but will be traveling to L.A. for projects as well.
Long Island has been a welcoming stop for Mark over the past few years he said thanks to his friends and networking with the Long Island Film Festival (LIFF). Meeting “likeminded people” he said has been an inspiration to him and he is eager to for what the future holds.
“It’s in my blood. I love talking and I love hearing people,” he said.
To learn more about Mark’s work and his career you can visit markpragai.com.
A growing platform focused to bring joy and support for others
By Amy Nicole Tangel
Prior to the pandemic, Jeff Krauss made a career working with celebrities and artists alike in the events and hospitality industry, most notably with his company IE Group, which he founded in 2006. However, like most people in that industry when everything shut down so did life as Jeff knew it.
Leaving New York City behind, for a period of time, at the height of it all, Jeff went to stay with family on Long Island. That’s when he began talking with his longtime friend and colleague Mich Faulkner about what they could do to help others and lift spirits virtually through entertainment.
And just like that, FanRoom Live, a new platform to bring fans and celebrities together in all the comforts of home, was born. They created a space where people can meet someone, they may have never had the opportunity to otherwise. Once the concept was brought to fruition, Jeff said he and Mich knew they had to bring a name to the table and took the approach to ask their mutual friend and celebrity, Cedric the Entertainer to come on board as a fellow co-founder.
“We love Cedric and he is a close friend so we said to him, ‘hey, we got this idea,’” Jeff said explaining Cedric’s response to FanRoom Live was an immediate yes.
In early spring of 2020, the team started brainstorming and only a few months later in July, the first episode of FanRoom Live aired with George Lopez as their celebrity guest. The virtual meeting between Lopez and fans was not only produced with the intention of entertaining but became a template for guests moving forward to do even more to help others by taking the opportunity to raise money for charity.
The premiere episode of FanRoom Live raised money for Lopez’s foundation for kidney disease awareness, the George Lopez Foundation while it simultaneously promoted his Netflix stand-up comedy special, “We’ll Do It For Half,” which also premiered the same day leading fans directly from their virtual meet-n-greet to Netflix.
Amongst the three founders, when asked who handles what, Jeff said they make decisions and plan everything together as a team. As far as booking guests, Jeff said the mindset is: “if someone is a person with fans who want to meet them that is what FanRoom Live is there for.”
The show usually runs once a month, but if schedules allow and the demand is there Jeff said they will create whatever comes naturally.
With past celebrity guests such as Ice T & Coco, Lamar Odom, Jessica Parker Kennedy, Morgan Fairchild, Scheana Shay and Brock Davies from Vanderpump Rules and rocker CJ Ramone just to name a small few, once an artistsigns on, tickets are listed on their website and then the day of event log-in information is shared with ticket holders to join the meeting.
Whether or not the celebrity chooses to benefit a charity, Jeff said the team leaves that up to them. Part of their role is making suggestions, but the platform is not just to support charities but to promote artists’ projects as well.
“Even connecting the celebrities with their fans is actually, if you think about it, is a cause in itself,” he said.
Putting smiles on people’s faces with an “up-close and personal intimate experience that is very unique,” he said is the goal. The co-hosts, Jae Benjamin and Stacey Toy personally introduce the fan to the celebrity and open the conversations.
“Things happen, moments happen, that are very special on both sides,” he added.
Wrestling star Jake “The Snake” Roberts was a guest on FanRoom Live and to his surprise saw a fan with an illness he had been visiting since the 80’s. There is no way anyone could have known, Jeff said, and described it as a completely organic moment.
“It was a beautiful moment when they both realized they were on the call,” he said.
One moment that stands out on FanRoom Live that Jeff said really hit home for him so far has been the episode when WWE superstar Paul “The Big Show” Wight came on the show and literally gave the shirt off his back to a little boy from the UK who asked him to donate it to be auctioned off for the charity he was raising money for.
“As much as he’s a giant he has a giant heart,” Jeff said of “The Big Show.”
The charity the shirt went to was Wresting For Warriors, an organization which supports kids who have a disability or terminal illness by bringing them together with their favorite wrestlers through events and by raising money to help those in the fight. Jeff, who is a proclaimed wrestling fan said that’s neither here nor there, but during the pandemic it became almost impossible for events so it was a cause he felt FanRoom Live could help to carry on.
The chain-of-events from that one episode didn’t stop there though said Jeff, when to his surprise a friend of his who is a wrestling podcaster saw the post-video and immediately reached out to Jeff with a donation of two world title belts; one from The Rock which was given to the boy from the UK on his birthday and the other from The Undertaker which was auctioned off for charity.
Looking forward to 2023, Jeff said, “really just building out, making the experiences better and even bigger than they are” is his plan for the future of FanRoom Live.
There has been a noticeable growth in the audience base of FanRoom Live according to Jeff over the past two years and continually moving in the upward direction. He said the show first started out with primarily celebrities and “their” fans, but they have now started to have regulars and other people simply checking-in because they heard it was something fun to do.
Jeff makes point to credit the success of FanRoom Live in large part to hosts Jae and Stacey for not only their work on camera making everyone feel so comfortable, but off-camera as well acquiring sponsorships and building bridges. Jae, co-executive producer of the show has most recently worked on the development of a relationship with GameStop NFT and Abante Productions; a strategic partnership Jeff said created to sell NFT tickets to the FanRoom Live shows through the marketplace.
“These tickets will actually be NFT’s you can hold on to,” he said.
Currently, they are working on creating their own technology Jeff said, and a lot of things are happening in the background, but they are going at their own pace and building on post-videos after the events air which are now getting millions of views.
“We now have sponsors that are coming in, because of the exposure and engagement,” he said.
To see who is coming up next on FanRoom Live or to learn more, visit fanroomlive.com or on social media handles @fanroomlive.
Breast Cancer survivor is on a mission to lift others and bring awareness
By Amy Nicole Tangel
Living life as a working wife and mom, Jess Cruz of Medford, NY spent the early part of raising her children and building her family, as many other moms balancing a 9 to 5 job, all the while making the time to pursue her own creative passions. It all started simply with a passion for making cakes for her daughter’s birthdays growing overtime into a family-run pastry making and party planning business.
However, it all halted when Jess was diagnosed with breast cancer in 2019. While away from home for her grandmother’s passing, she found a lump on her breast.
“I just knew something was really wrong,” she said refusing to say a word to her family until her return.
Through all the treatments, surgeries and recovery, Jess who was diagnosed with Triple Negative Breast Cancer (TNBC); specifically Invasive Ductal Carcinoma Stage 2B, continued to be a hands-on mom and lived life to the fullest and best she could.
Thankfully three years later with the care of Memorial Sloan Kettering (MSK) Jess is now cancer-free. Having to put her pastry and party planning endeavors to the side, she is now excited about the recent opening of her new online shop, Mama Approved Boutique.
“With the type of breast cancer, I had there is no known treatment plan for it,” she said reflecting on her gratitude for where she stands today with the opportunity to start a new venture.
Partnered with her friend and mother of 5 Alysia Galarza of Bellmore, the two moms and entrepreneurs have launched an entire line of apparel, tumblers, tote bags and so much more all in a year’s time; just like she beat cancer with chemo, radiation, a double mastectomy and reconstructive surgery all in less than one year.
Custom creations, logos and designs have been racking up in orders as a result of not only their online store, but in-person at local fairs and through constantly bringing followers something new on social media. Between Jess and Alysia stands 8 children and one grandchild, so when you see the Mama Approved boutique at an event it’s always a family affair.
“We just went for it. We just dove in,” said Alysia.
For customers who are looking to put their own phrases on a shirt to a coffee mug to a specific image, or they just want to shop from the boutiques original collections Jess said ever since a child being creative was always something that was just a part of her and is why she loves to create for others.
“Growing up I was always drawing, always painting,” she said.
With a career in the Life Safety field and sales by day, Jess has been working nights and weekends alongside Alysia taking turns between FaceTime, driving back and forth from Medford to Bellmore to meet and create; all the while working from their respective at-home-workshops.
As the holiday season is in full-swing they are offering special sales with affordable prices such as the $20 “Elf Gift Box” sets while supplies last filled with candy, small toys and activities with a personalized letter from your “Elf on a Shelf,” personalized bottle gift bags, cookie trays and pillowcases for your holiday home décor.
Both creative in and skilled with Cricut, Jess said it was Alysia who really lit the flame to get the business going and gave her the motivation to believe that they could do this together. While Jess wanted a new outlet for her creativity, post-cancer, she said she learned from the past taking on too much was not good for anyone, so they decided to start with each creating one logo for shirts and seeing where it went from there. First they had to come up with a name and for Jess and Alysia they both said they wanted to keep it broad but everything had to be a reflection of motherhood with positivity and purpose.
“We’re both moms,” said Alysia, “We’re both into our families, but at the end of the day what defines us is motherhood.”
For Jess and Alysia, Mama Approved Boutique is not just focused on uplifting moms, but for causes across the board. The two creators said they are both passionate about helping others and their most meaningful designs this past year have come from creating shirts for teams and organizations. Most recently, they have signed on to create shirts for a local Long Island team who will be participating in Cycle for Survival 2023 to benefit MSK Rare Cancer Research; giving back to the medical community that saved Jess’ life.
In the upcoming New Year, Jess is hoping to bring awareness to another cause near to her heart by creating items and opening conversations to support Type 1 Childhood Diabetes, a disease her youngest daughter, Karina at the age of 12 was just diagnosed with only two months ago. From life threatening blood sugar levels and back to hospitals once again, this time with her baby, Jess said it has been a real struggle to find support out there for her daughter and her family on the local level and is hoping to open new doors.
“Can I tell you? Her diagnosis, I am taking harder than my breast cancer. It’s the worst. If I could take all of it in I would,” Jess said somberly.
Looking towards the New Year, Jess and Alysia both are hopeful for what’s to come for the Mama Approved Boutique and its potential having come so far in one year. For Alysia, she said one of the most fulfilling aspects of the business for her has been the partnership that has grown between the two and how they naturally pick each other up along the way.
Taking it all in stride, Jess said just like getting through her cancer she continues to take things one day at a time making Mama Approved Boutique even more meaningful to her being able to have her daughters by her side.
“Seeing that we could do this, and we are rocking it is the most fulfilling. I love seeing the kids involved,” said Jess.
To shop Mama Approved Boutique, stay up on new items and find them at local events follow them on Instagram and TikTok: @shopalyandjess or go to https://linktr.ee/mamaapproved.
The Human Interest Story 